Oct 14, 2008

sun2surf | ....Anwar told the Dewan Rakyat before taking his seat that he still has a little more to add to his debate today (Tuesday).

The house was less than half-filled most of the time. At 2.45pm, for example, only eight BN backbenchers, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and two deputy ministers were present.

Anwar said it was pointless to debate the budget speech which was tabled on Aug 29 as it was like debating a historical document, urging the government to accept the fact that the world economic crisis could lead to a recession in Malaysia.

"I’d like to stress here that the new Finance Minister must review the budget to generate the country’s strength, or else our economy will continue to be paralysed.

"All analysis without exception have said looking at the current circumstances, no economy would be safe in the next one or two years.

Therefore, there must be a more realistic approach to tackle this," he said.

In a broadside at Najib for being absent, Anwar said during his eight years as Finance Minister he never left the house when the opposition leader was debating the budget speech.

Explaining further, Anwar said the government must consider changes such as in the price of oil which was at USD125 per barrel six weeks back but has now dropped to USD77 per barrel and price of crude palm oil which has dropped from RM4,486 then to RM1,773 on Friday.... selanjutnya.